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Date: 9/3/2019
CHICOPEE – With the preliminary election now looming, the candidates for mayor are releasing statement through press releases and posts on social media.
The Chicopee Herald will be sending all four candidates a series of five questions prior to the first election.
City Council President John Vieau released the following statement about education:
“With the new school year about to start, I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about my involvement with the Chicopee school system. As the father of three children who attended school in Chicopee, as a graduate of Chicopee schools myself and as a city councilor for the past 16 years (president for the past four years), I am grateful for the education that we have received from the caring educators in this city and I am excited about the future of education in Chicopee.
“I recently discussed plans with school department staff who were initially tasked with lifting our elementary school performance levels and subsequently lifting our upper grade performance. We know that in order for our students to be successful, they need to feel that they are in a safe, welcoming and comfortable environment in order to learn and grow. “As we continue to provide challenging and rigorous curriculum that includes a wide range of educational electives, we need to continue to engage our students and help them to stay focused and excited about learning. Maintaining a high level of professional teaching staff and attracting qualified teachers along with manageable class sizes would allow our schools to meet the individual needs of every student.
“Our schools, like those across the State face challenges with less State funding. However, the budget we passed this year was for $89,546, 477, an increase of 3.6 percent. Additionally, we approved bonding for improved security devices and cameras in schools, improved classroom lighting and upgrading of all the school lighting to more energy efficient LED bulbs, air conditioning for Bellamy Middle School and our elementary schools, door replacement at various schools, and replacement of the turf field at Chicopee Comprehensive High School. The Council has not cut school funding while balancing the City budget.
“Communication is vital, so we will be increasing communication between schools, teachers, families and city hall. We share a concern for the culture and climate of each of our schools and we understand the importance of community engagement. We will be hiring five social workers to assist students with emotional issues, to identify areas of concern and facilitate support, tutoring and other intervention. We will use technology to help open the doors of our classrooms, posting online boards with rubrics for achievement and expectations for our students and daily homework assignments. Inspiring AP classes continue to attract students. In addition, every high school student will have a 10-week course in health including CPR and self-care.
“Exciting creative solutions are being implemented to create smaller learning groups in large classes and new programs like our nursing program, just two years young is completely booked. We will also be creating vibrant learning environments where art engagement is part of the core curriculum.
“Our educators are key to the success of our students. We will work with our talented teachers to help them flourish and give them the support they need and professional development they require to thrive and enjoy their work with their students.
“I am thankful for the experiences that my children and I have had in Chicopee schools and as Mayor, I will be committed to our students, families, teachers, support staff and administrators. I look forward to strategizing new ways to enhance our schools, support our educators and give students the tools they need to maximize their potential and go forward to achieve any goals that they set their minds to.”
Joe Morrisette
Morrisette released the following statement on Facebook about a fundraiser that he cancelled:
“Good Evening Everyone!
“I pledged to be transparent. Sometimes this means sharing good news, other times it means sharing various updates. I want to let you know that the chicken and spaghetti dinner scheduled for Sept. 5 has been canceled.
“Why? Quite simply, in order to reach as many supported as possible, I shared the event on my personal Facebook page. I was informed this method of notification is not allowed, because I’m a public school employee.
“It was an honest mistake, and one that won’t be repeated. This misstep was brought to my attention by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance (OCFP). They were informed by a representative of another candidate’s campaign team.
“I’m looking at this as an opportunity to learn. I now understand that as a public employee, even in my home outside of my work hours, mixing any personal resources with campaign is not allowed.
“I’m sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused. We will be refunding money from our ticket sales. I want to thank the team who worked hard to fill the room, and those who planned to cater, set up and entertain that night!
“Instead, I’ll use this night to knock on doors and continue to meet our residents to learn more about why they want a new leader in City Hall.”
Michael Bissonnette
The former mayor has been very active, commenting on issues on his Facebook page and recently noted:
“Campaign 2019: Team Chicopee must be on the move as one other campaign has supporters already throwing all the mud they can. This is typical old school, bare knuckles Chicopee politics where taxes, out of control spending, insider deals and incompetence hides behind innuendo and a smear campaign.
“Those attacks really say more about their character than it does about mine. I was reminded of that today with a note of support from a woman whose recycling I went and picked up after the truck had missed her. Sometimes it is the little things that make the ability to help people a joy and allow you to ignore the hateful critics.
“The lies are catching up to you guys though. The waste with the pools and the City Hall project, the failure to move the city forward, claiming credit for projects or funding made possible during my administration. There is also a funny and somewhat ironic story about the signs on ‘Partyka Hill’ that I will share soon involving the state DPW.
“People are starting to understand that there has been a lot going on that needs to be seen, understood and reformed before we can get an effective, efficient modern government. Sometimes it’s simple as getting the DPW (which does sidewalks) working with the Golf Commission to put in new cart paths for our golf course (saving over $150,000 instead of using a contractor).
“Sometimes it is difficult. Every year, we pay $1 million more in sewer/water fees than we should because of the delays in implementing the meter modernization program (guess who voted against it twice?). Or the delays in purchasing larger trash barrels (voted against this as well).
“However I’m ready to get back to work with the same passion for public service I had before and a new City Council which I look forward to working with. I certainly know I'm not perfect.
“Please don’t compare me to the Almighty – just compare me to the alternative.”
Angela Breault-Klusman
The business owner noted on Facebook her participation in cleaning up areas in the city where illegal littering and dumping have taken place.
“The clean up of the boat launch, river and dike was a success! Thank you all who came and helped! We ended up with 33 trash bags, 11 tires, rugs, car parts, metal frame, parts of a barrel and a plastic sled!
“From there I was tagged in a post for Ray Ash Park. We stopped grabbed lunch and went to the park and cleaned up the park ended up with four bags of trash, cardboard, a piece of a plastic table and three umbrellas!
“Please if you step on it, see it and can pick it up please do! Let’s keep our community clean...
Thank you all who came and helped clean up our community! A special shout out to my two youngest Dustin (12) and Evan (9) thank you for joining us and asking questions and saying you will never litter!”